my cockatiel has the run of the house when we are with it for we do have 2 cats but the cats don't seem to pay attention to him we still won't let the bird out of our sight when the cage is open it has now been a few days that we noticed him fidgeting his right wing! now we noticed that there is blood on it! i have looked at it and read your older posts it seems that he may have brocken a blood vestle or somthing he don't seem to mind me touching his wing much but he does tend to flick it then! he is just in the mids of being tamed i had inhereted him from a friend i had him for about 2 weeks now! and don't have any vets around were i live that will even see him! what can i do to help him without loosing his trust! he is still a bit of a nipper and now will come out of his cage on his own just to be next to someone and realy don't what to do anything to loose that trust! please help asap

oh and i think a may be almost a year old and he did come from a owner that did not keep his cage clean so i don't know if this may result in the wing! i did cut his flight feathers when i got him and i know he wasn't harm there i used to cut them all the time when i worked in the pet store that is how i learned to trim a birds flight feather!

Is he showing any weakness in that wing - does it droop a little or fold differently against his body? If so, then I would worry about a break. But usually there's no blood with a break unless it's a compound fx with bone sticking out. You would notice that, I'm sure.

That leaves 2 other possibilities. Perhaps one of the cats managed to get a swat in and injured the bird's wing with a scratch. In that case, the bird would need to be on antibiotics.

Or the bird is growing in a new feather and it broke while he was running around. New feathers unfurl from a sheath (looks like it's in a straw). During that time they have a blood supply and if the feather is damaged, there will be some blood. Perhaps that feather is bothering him and he's trying to preen it or remove it. Can you see if he has other feathers coming in as well? You'll see short feathers in sheaths near the base of the wing kind of under the older full feathers. I hope that's all it is. In time he'll get rid of the broken feather.

Is he showing any weakness in that wing - does it droop a little or fold differently against his body? If so, then I would worry about a break. But usually there's no blood with a break unless it's a compound fx with bone sticking out. You would notice that, I'm sure.

That leaves 2 other possibilities. Perhaps one of the cats managed to get a swat in and injured the bird's wing with a scratch. In that case, the bird would need to be on antibiotics.

Or the bird is growing in a new feather and it broke while he was running around. New feathers unfurl from a sheath (looks like it's in a straw). During that time they have a blood supply and if the feather is damaged, there will be some blood. Perhaps that feather is bothering him and he's trying to preen it or remove it. Can you see if he has other feathers coming in as well? You'll see short feathers in sheaths near the base of the wing kind of under the older full feathers. I hope that's all it is. In time he'll get rid of the broken feather.

It's nothing to be too worried about, just keep an eye on it. If it starts to bleed again (more then a drop of blood appearing on the feathers), then the feather will have to be pulled out. You should be able to clearly see which feather is the blood feather. It will be a dark redish colour along the stem.

It's quite common in birds, my budgie has one right now. Usually they sort of take care of themselves, but like I said, if it is bleeding then you'll need to take some tweezers, or find a steady set of fingers to do the job. If it's not bleeding then you can just leave it alone.

However, if you do notice a change in your birds demeanor then I would definitely look into it more!

It's nothing to be too worried about, just keep an eye on it. If it starts to bleed again (more then a drop of blood appearing on the feathers), then the feather will have to be pulled out. You should be able to clearly see which feather is the blood feather. It will be a dark redish colour along the stem.

It's quite common in birds, my budgie has one right now. Usually they sort of take care of themselves, but like I said, if it is bleeding then you'll need to take some tweezers, or find a steady set of fingers to do the job. If it's not bleeding then you can just leave it alone.

However, if you do notice a change in your birds demeanor then I would definitely look into it more!

If I may comment: I believe you're talking about a wing feather, like a primary or secondary feather. If it's one of those two types of larger wing feathers, please do not remove them yourself. It would feel about as good as pulling out one of your fingernails. In cases of burned or electrocuted birds, if we decide some where along the line to remove some of the damaged feathers to stimulate new growth, we anesthetize the bird first before pulling any primaries or secondaries. The pain would be too much.

If it's a smaller feather like a covert, that can be removed but I'm sure it still doesn't feel real terrific. I don't see any need to remove anything. Birds deal with this all the time in the wild.

If I may comment: I believe you're talking about a wing feather, like a primary or secondary feather. If it's one of those two types of larger wing feathers, please do not remove them yourself. It would feel about as good as pulling out one of your fingernails. In cases of burned or electrocuted birds, if we decide some where along the line to remove some of the damaged feathers to stimulate new growth, we anesthetize the bird first before pulling any primaries or secondaries. The pain would be too much.

If it's a smaller feather like a covert, that can be removed but I'm sure it still doesn't feel real terrific. I don't see any need to remove anything. Birds deal with this all the time in the wild.

Maybe pet birds are different because they're so small. I'm used to working on hawks that have been electrocuted and owls that have fallen into fireplaces. I'd still hesitate to pull a primary or secondary, even on a small bird. Ouch!

Maybe pet birds are different because they're so small. I'm used to working on hawks that have been electrocuted and owls that have fallen into fireplaces. I'd still hesitate to pull a primary or secondary, even on a small bird. Ouch!

my cockatiel has the run of the house when we are with it for we do have 2 cats but the cats don't seem to pay attention to him we still won't let the bird out of our sight when the cage is open it has now been a few days that we noticed him fidgeting his right wing! now we noticed that there is blood on it! i have looked at it and read your older posts it seems that he may have brocken a blood vestle or somthing he don't seem to mind me touching his wing much but he does tend to flick it then! he is just in the mids of being tamed i had inhereted him from a friend i had him for about 2 weeks now! and don't have any vets around were i live that will even see him! what can i do to help him without loosing his trust! he is still a bit of a nipper and now will come out of his cage on his own just to be next to someone and realy don't what to do anything to loose that trust! please help asap

oh and i think a may be almost a year old and he did come from a owner that did not keep his cage clean so i don't know if this may result in the wing! i did cut his flight feathers when i got him and i know he wasn't harm there i used to cut them all the time when i worked in the pet store that is how i learned to trim a birds flight feather!

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